May 23, 2011

... Mr. Kucinich figures his aggressive brand of antiwar, pro-working class politics could sell well in a solidly blue state where he has ideological allies and was popular during his unsuccessful White House bids in 2004 and 2008. It is a somewhat novel idea that could be summed up as: Have seniority, will travel...
Mr. Kucinich’s attempt would certainly be unusual. In the early days of Congress, a few House members won election years apart in two different states. But Ed Foreman, now a motivational speaker, was the last to do so more than 40 years ago; elected as a Republican from Texas in 1962, he lost his re-election attempt in 1964, then won one term in New Mexico in 1968...

Should he decide to go ahead, Mr. Kucinich is certain to face charges of carpetbagging and confront questioners like a woman on Saturday who pressed him on whether political candidates should be homegrown or not. He had a ready answer.

“Where people live is always interesting,” Mr. Kucinich said. “Where they stand is quite instructive.”

No Person shall be a Representative who shall not have attained to the age of twenty five Years, and been seven Years a Citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an Inhabitant of that State in which he shall be chosen.

So all Kucinich needs to do is start inhabiting Washington by election day.

If the people of Washington feel he represents them, I'm all for letting him run there. It's the snooty sense of entitlement I find insufferable. As though if Dennis weren't in the House of Representatives it would be a loss for America. Get over yourself you bat-eared piece of shit.

"At a debate of Democratic presidential candidates in Philadelphia on October 30, 2007, NBC's Tim Russert cited a passage from a book by Shirley MacLaine in which the author writes that Kucinich had seen a UFO from her home in Washington State." Wikipedia

In this way, as in so many others, the Democrats want us to become like Europe.

In Britain's parliamentary system, candidates do not have to live where they are standing for election, and often don't. The parties say candidate X is standing for election in ward Y, and the voters like it or lump it.

I always rather liked the way that Americans try to keep their politicians local, even if DC always claims their allegiances after a while.

Eric said:Every state has different rules. Does Washington have a rule against elves running for Congress?Only for state and/or local offices. The requirements for Congress are dictated by the constitution and are exactly as mentioned by Ann in the main post. Even residence in the district is not a requirement, but merely residence in the state. (Although I rather imagine an opponent would make effective use of any non-resident candidate).

It is a somewhat novel idea that could be summed up as: Have seniority, will travel...

That's the part that interests me. Isn't seniority dependent on the rules of the House? I wonder what would happen if the Rules Committee ruled that a Representative would lose seniority if they ran in a district or a state other than that where their seniority was was established, the exception being the elimination of a district due to reapportionment. In that case, the Representative would have to challenge in the consolidated district to retain their seniority.

That would make perfect sense to me, and would stop Kucinich dead in his tracks. He is, after all, thinking about taking the easy way out of losing his district.

They will probably split up Seattle more, but to make a minority-safe district. Larry Gossett would win in a walk, and change the complexion of the state representatives to more accurately reflect the mix of people.

That's if they're smart and forward thinking. What they'll probably do is arrange it so another white male will win and REPRESENT the state. Because nothing says "change" like "do what we've always done."

I'd like to make a joke about how Kucinich making a move like this would raise the average IQ of both Ohio and Washington, but that would be an unfair calumny upon both states. Awful little man.

A lot of bad things can be said about him, particularly his foreign policy views, but he did janitorial work - on his hands and knees, no machines - to put his siblings through school before he put himself through the same way.

@miller:They will probably split up Seattle more, but to make a minority-safe district. Larry Gossett would win in a walk, and change the complexion of the state representatives to more accurately reflect the mix of people.

No. Washington is one of only two states that does not have gerrymandering. Districts are nearly invariably geographic and change little from Census to Census. There are no minority-majority districts, and Jim McDermott's seat is only safe because he represents downtown Seattle.